Weston Historical Commission advances 25 Conant Road window case to public hearing

WESTON -- August 23, 2022, Weston Historical Commission advances a disputed window-replacement case and nominates a long-stalled train station for endangered-buildings recognition. The commission voted unanimously at its August 23 meeting to find the circa-1873 Italianate house at 25 Conant Road historically significant and to send to a September 20 public hearing a proposal by Mass Builders to replace all 35 windows in the structure, including original old-growth wood sash. Members Henry S. Stone, Jr. and Alfred Aydelott argued that properly restored original windows with storm inserts match new-window efficiency and outlast replacement units, which they said typically fail within 20 to 25 years. The commission also voted 7-0 to nominate the former Weston train station at 55 Church Street, controlled by the MBTA, to the Preservation Massachusetts most-endangered buildings list before an end-of-August deadline, with Co-Chair Phyllis Halpern calling the move a search for "any leverage that we can find." A garage-expansion proposal at 22 Derby Lane was unanimously cleared as not detrimental, and the commission received word that Stacy Spies was the sole bidder on an RFQ for a modern architecture survey sent to eight Mass Historical Commission-recommended vendors.